Tying Tips

Getting your fly body the colour you want it is no longer a challenge. Using Hends Body Quills the choices are endless, and you get a nice translucent look.
Below are some examples tied on a #16 hook, and the fly of the month shows you how it is done.

Getting feathers to 'sit' nicely

When tying a feather onto a hook, there is always the problem of the feather shaft 'rolling over' which can make aligning a feather frustrating.
This applies to all sizes, whether tying on a small hackle or putting a big sclappen feather onto a big streamer.

Dealing with 'wrapping' zonker tails

There are many ways of dealing with the problem of zonker tails that 'wrap' during the cast, but I like this simple method by Capt. Tim Tannis.
He uses a piece of plastic tube, cuts it halfway through the middle, then cuts from the end to take a slot out of it.
Instead of a tube I used a goose quill and it worked quite well.
Tie the zonker strip onto the hook, then slip the tube over the zonker tail with the cut out facing the hook.

Wrap the slotted end onto the hook as shown after adding some glue.

This is a very simple way to strenthen your dubbing, but to create ribbing as well..

This one blew me away when I saw it. It looks difficult but it is seriously easy, and will really simplify your hackle palmering.
It works for wolly buggers, dry flies, parachutes and anywhere you need to wind a hackle.

  

Holding the hackle in one hand, make a half hitch on your finger and transfer it to the feather shaft as shown (detailed image below).
Dont worry if the feather and thread are not the same length, just get the hitch over.
Once done, let the bobbin hang which keeps tension on the knot.

If you hold the shaft in one hand and the thread in the other, you can slack of the thread, pull the feather shaft tight, and then tighten the thread. This will align the two so they are parallel.

Then just wind the bobbin and the hackle will follow. How you tie the feather on at first will determine the direction the hackle falls.
In this example I have done a funnel type hackle which goes over the front for a Tenkara type fly.

In order to tie the T.U.F.F. fly, you will need to be able to do a split thread dubbing loop.
In general, dubbing loops are a great way to apply loose dubbing materials, especially when you need a scraggly effect.
They are important with small flies, as a normal dubbing loop can cause an unwanted build up of thread.

Easier said than done though, as not all threads split easily.
You can buy purpose made split thread like the Petijean or Hends product, but the material I use as standard on all my dry flies is Griffiths Sheer Thread. It is a 14/0 thread which is on the thin side (perfect for dries) but quite strong (it seems stronger than my 8/0 thread).

To split the thread, first place the thread on the hook where you need it and let the bobbin hang so that it will unwind the thread naturally while you prepare your dubbing or other material. When ready, unwind it back half a turn or more then pull quite firmly away from you.
You should find that it has flattened itself against the hook.

Now simply insert a dubbing needle to split it. Rest your left hand on the vice, and use it to support your needle hand.
Blunt needles work better than sharp ones and don't damage the thread.
The needle must be clean and blunt, (not like mine in the picture) a gunged up needle will damage the thread. Move the needle down and keep the thread apart with a spinning tool, then proceed to insert the dubbing.

June 2010

Marabou Method
How to control your marabou, make it easier to handle and end up with less mess & waste.



Cut your marabou at the shaft as shown. Stroke the marabou back and use the shaft to 'handle' yje marabou. If using it for a tail, tie it down at rear of the hook, then trim the shaft off.
If the fly body is goin to be bulky, you can tie the shaft down on top of the hook shank.
Adjust the amount of marabou by how long you make the cut.

Coming up in July, the 'toothpick'

May 2010

This is a first for the newsletter, a video. After wracking my brain for a way to show this in pictures, I had to concede that the only way to do it was on video. This neat trick that I discovered quite by accident will show you how to trap hackles on a rotary vice.
You know the problem, you wind the hackle and either you let it go, or it slips out of the hackle pliers as you hang them, before you can fix it down. Now, using a rotary vice, you hold the hackle and turn the vice while holding the thread out the way. As your hackle gets to the finishing point, you move the thread so that it traps the hackle as you turn.
It can be used for any kind of palmering.







April 2010

The mono loop hackle is an idea created by Andrew Griffiths in the UK, and is another tip that I have blatantly pillaged from the award winning 'Fly Fishing & Fly Tying' Magazine. It is another simple way to do a parachute hackle.

Left - Lay on a base layer of thread & dub the abdomen. Tie in a generous length of mono, and your hackle, finishing your thread where you want the parachute. (The mono has been coloured red for visibility) Right - bring the mono back, making a large loop, with the end of the mono having a tag end on the right, secure with two turns.


Left - Dub the thorax and head. Right - Hold the loop up and do four turns of the hackle around the mono.

Left - Open up the loop and do two turns of the hackle around one of the nylon threads, ie. inside the loop. Repeat the four and two turns again for a denser parachute. Right - Holding the loop and the hackle tight, pull the tag until it is completely closed.

Left - Trim the rest of the hackle (you could leave some as a post), finish off your thread, and you are finished (Right)

March 2010

Buying or tying a fly that turns out to be a 'wrappers delight' is always a disappointment.
Avoiding the dreaded tail wrap is difficult, but there are ways of dealing with it at the fly tying stage.
However, many of these reduce the 'action' of the tail, so when I serendipitously discovered this trick, I was pretty pleased.
Unfortunately 'there is nothing new under the sun' so there are probably hundreds of other people who have discovered the same.
Just in case you are not one of them, here is how it goes...

1. Stroke back some fibres on a piece of marabou (top of feather is to the left). A bit of the old spitty finger helps a lot.
2. Cut the shaft where you have made a gap.
3. Now move some herl to the left (about as much as you want to use in the tail) and make another gap.


4. On a thread wrapped hook, place the gap in the marabou above the hook point or a bit further back.
5. Do a few wraps, then carefully pull the feather to your right to position it.
Make sure that a bit of the feather shaft is sticking out of the rear of the fly (about half a hook gapes worth).
This is the bit that prevents the tail wrapping.


6. Tie it down properly, then trim and finish off normally, then continue with the rest of the fly.

Feb 2010

Colouring Beads

Here is something I picked up from "Fly Fishing & Fly Tying" magazine.

An easy way to change the colour of your beads.

Stick any beads on some waxed toothpicks then stick them into a toilet roll to hold them.
(This can also be done with the bead on the hook, but watch out you don't close up the eye of the hook)
Put a liberal amount of superglue onto each bead and as soon as you finished, spray them on all sides with a mist spray of water.
In the original article the man spits licks his fingers liberally and then touches the bead.


Leave it overnight to dry and it will have a nice frosted appearance.
This will then take any permanent marker, and the colour will stay.


After colouring. The green bead on the left has been done in two greens, and the red bead below has been counter shaded like a natural bug would be.

Jan 2010

Klinkhamer Without Tears

This tip was found in a old issue of Trout & Salmon Magazine, an easy way to get a hackle onto a Klinky without the frustration normally involved with tying parachute hackles. After giving it a try, I was sold.
Tie your klinkhamer body as usual. Leave the post for last, but before you do it, cut a strip of 1-2mm foam and tie it on as shown in the 1st image. After that, tie in your post material, followed by the hackle.
Now all you do is wind the hackle under the foam and tie it off and trim. Easy as pie! Next, trim the foam without trimming any hackle. Trim the post to desired length and its done. As you can see there is hardly any foam visible.
If you like, you trim less of the foam, which will act as a 'sighter' and also help float the fly. You could even leave out the post.

November 09 While fishing a Stream X on Sunday I had a little problem with weighting nymphs. The obvious solution was to use split-shot, but I'm not a split-shot fan, and they do have a tendency to wedge between rocks.
Using my "Weena" flies, (which were fooling quite a few fish) I found that in some situations they weren't heavy enough for the speed of the current, while my beaded versions were too heavy. What I needed was a series of flies at different weights.

It brought to mind Tom Sutcliffe's method of marking different weights with different colours. So here you have from me, a totally unoriginal idea, blatantly plagiarised from Tom's book, "The Elements of Fly Tying". On the end of the hook shank, on the bend, wrap a thread colour tag that indicates the weighting of the fly. Black for no weight, Olive for medium weight, and Red for heavily weighted.
'And now for something completely original' A beaded fly is obviously weighted, but doesn't tell you whether its a brass or tungsten bead. If its tungsten, then add a red tag to indicate heavy. You may want to add another weight to the range, with a small blue tag for 'slightly weighted'.
It's really not necessary to mark un-weighted flies, you could leave it out. Keep the black for if you have a red fly and need to mark it red then substitute for black. The same applies to other flies where the tag would be the same colour as the fly.
If you feel the tag at the end of the fly just doesnt look right, put it just in front or just after the bead.


Some examples of tagged Weena's, Blue tag behind eye (top right) for slightly weighted, black tags (red substitute) for heavily weighted and to indicate tungsten beads.




To remember what colour stands for what weight may be a challenge for some (like me). Just grab a waterproof marker and write it (with your name and phone number) on the back of your fly boxes.

Neither StreamX or its employees, affiliates or dependants will be held responsible for anything happening as a result of following these tips, as evolution is an ongoing process.

October 09

While fishing the Kaaimansgat a few weeks ago I had difficulty seeing an Elk Hair Caddis, even a large one. Determined to resolve the problem, I sat down at my vice and picked up some bright Antron Yarn and immediately saw the solution.



Tie your EH Cadiss as usual, and before you tie it off, lay a piece of bright Antron across the top, tie it in, trim the front to the same length as the head and whip finish. Then trim the back end, and you have a bright visible spot that is visible to you and not the fish.

You could also use a contrasting colour of deer hair instead.

Neither StreamX or its employees, affiliates or dependants will be held responsible for anything happening as a result of following these tips, as evolution is an ongoing process.

September 09

Got some glue in the eye of your fly?

Stick your fly eye under your fingernail and push the fly down.
Bend your finger down so that the eye get released, up pops the eye and its clear.

This does work best with thinner glues, and don't try this with superglue.
If you are gluing heads with superglue, put a small blob on a piece of plastic, and transfer small amounts using a needle or bodkin.
I use one of those teflon sheets that seamstresses cut on. This protects the desk and cleans easily, so you can put koki pens, glue and all kinds of things on it. Oops, that's two tips so let's go for broke.

If this doesn't work then there is the age old traditional method.
Take a reject or used hackle, stick the base through the eye and pull it through.

August 09

How do you get rid of those furry bits that stick out over the eye of your fly?
Its as simple as "flicking your BIC" (For those that don't know, a BIC is your cigarette lighter).

Trim them as best you can, then mask the rest of your fly with 3 fingers, drawing them back towards the hook (mind the sharp bit), then quickly bring your lighter towards the hook eye and the fluff disappears like magic. You don't hold the flame close enough to burn yourself, so it is relatively harmless.
Just ensure you do this before you put head cement or glue on, as they can be quite inflammable.

It can also be used to "neaten up" floss as shown below as in this months fly, the AcidTone Nymph

Neither StreamX or its employees, affiliates or dependants will be held responsible for anything happening as a result of following these tips,
as evolution is an ongoing process.

July 09

Tying in a wire without causing a nasty lump can be a challenge.
Next time you do it, stick your wire into a bobbin, and wind it on the hook like you would do with thread. No more lump! As a bonus it adds a bit of weight to your nymphs.
For dry flies, use very thin wire, or tie the wire on with thread, starting just behind the eye, with the wire lying on top of the hook shank.

Neither StreamX or its employees, affiliates or dependants will be held responsible for anything happening as a result of following these tips, as evolution is an ongoing process.